Digitally Forward

In India, we have embraced digital technology in a big way across sectors. In healthcare, there's artificial intelligence, robotics, etc. What are some of the benefits and challenges of this?  
Healthcare has always been considered an imperative building block for the nation. The Government of India, through schemes like The National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) or the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is taking bolder steps toward ensuring quality health for all.  

The digital journey of healthcare started in the form of digital report generation, managing health records, processing health insurance claims, etc. Today, people can access treatment and consultations online, book their tests and collect their reports via apps. However, this journey of integrating the right digital technologies within healthcare systems has not been easy. Owing to the regulatory, cultural, technological, and financial reasons, healthcare which deals with human wellbeing and survival has been a laggard in IT adoption. Nevertheless, this integration is helping the sector grow and improve the quality of care being given to patients.

Digital technologies have also been proving beneficial for medical experts in critical decision making and mitigating risks. At Siemens Healthineers, digitalizing healthcare, enabled by digital technologies is at the core of our efforts to improve patient experience, expand precision medicine, and in transforming healthcare delivery from a macro perspective. Further, Robotics combined with enablement by remote assistance will help improve access to care by making experts available for complex interventional procedures. We believe artificial intelligence, coupled with all these technologies would improve the outcomes for patients and healthcare delivery overall.

While digital health has seen an evolution, there still is a long way to go. Like in some of the countries, patients have their health records stored and managed at a central source. This helps doctors analyze patient history and continue with treatment anywhere in the country. The standardized Health Data Management (HDM), if implemented, will have Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to Electronic Health Records (EHR) collected into a digital repository.  

Additionally, there is a skewed demand-supply scenario for skilled professionals especially in the field of AI and digital technologies. This however is an opportunity to create an ecosystem of learning where required training can be provided and upgraded from time to time.  

Though the healthcare industry picked up digital technologies in recent years, it has changed the game of healthcare delivery in the country, and we believe that it will continue to evolve.  

With all this digitization, what about privacy? How do we keep sensitive data from being compromised?  
Embracing cloud-based technologies is inevitable. The recent experiences with the pandemic also highlighted certain use-cases for cloud-enabled applications. Siemens Healthineers has been at the forefront of introducing some cloud-enabled applications to drive departmental performance and diagnostic performance outcomes using big data and artificial intelligence. We follow the global standard of data protection and security.

Our solutions are designed from the ground-up to ensure data privacy by default. Further, the solutions comply not only with the GDPR and HIPAA norms for Data Privacy but are also certified by the prestigious EuroPriSe (European Privacy Seal) organization.  

We believe that there must be more awareness about data protection across industries. At Siemens Healthineers for instance, we conduct recurring training for all our employees on data privacy and guide them through the standard processes for ensuring data protection. This has to become an integral part of the culture of any organization.  

As we understand that data privacy and protection regulations to be implemented in India would be stricter, which is a welcome move.  

Which trends will we see in the near future in digital health?  
Patient centricity and safety of all is one aspect that will remain the nucleus of all emerging trends. The medical fraternity is always in search of solutions that are not only safe for both patient and their staff but also fast and accurate in diagnosing the root cause of ailment. This will continue to be the driving force for innovators and researchers.

Another trend would be collaborative consultation on critical treatments where medical practitioners across the globe would be able to monitor patient health remotely and provide timely assistance for better recovery. The digital technologies with a friendly user interface powered by advanced security systems will help caregivers add value to the treatment of patients.  

Lastly, there would be more emphasis on technologies that would aid the improvement of workflows within the healthcare system including digital analysis of processes, workloads, etc., and subsequent suggestions for improvements. This system intelligence is the need of the hour for standardizing the processes and enabling efficient management of available digital resources.  
Siemens Healthineers has been developing digital health solutions for more than a decade, based on three pillars: The first pillar is the improvement of workflows within the healthcare system (digital analysis of processes, workloads, etc. and subsequent suggestions for improvements). The second pillar is the support of diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, including through AI-supported algorithms (for example highlight abnormalities on X-ray images). The third pillar relies on connecting patients and treatment teams – including telemedicine solutions for monitoring (Teamplay myCare Companion) and teleconsultations (eHealth Virtual Visit). These products enable direct and indirect communication between doctors and patients via digital channels. Through our portfolio of hardware and digital products – consisting of advanced imaging, laboratory diagnostics and therapy solutions – we generate a large amount of clinical and operational data that is important for patient care. Across all three pillars, this generated data is intended to help improve overall efficiency and productivity within a healthcare system.

Medical education should be aligned to draw value from innovations in digital health? Your view?  
Formal academic medical education currently does not include digital health as part of its core curriculum. However, there are special courses offered by established academic and training institutions to provide necessary skills to professionals. We see greater scope for industry-academia collaboration in bridging this gap and creating a stronger ecosystem.  

At Siemens Healthineers, our education services offer blended learning solutions to enable institutions to provide a variety of education formats to enhance competencies and experience for their workforce anytime and anywhere. It is an evolutionary approach to application and equipment training that combines virtual and traditional education methods, tailored to the learner’s needs.  

Blended learning is the new strategy of healthcare education with immersive and digital education portfolio elements like AR, VR, Smart simulators, Cinematic Anatomy, etc. These programs offer opportunities for continuous upskilling and bridging the gap in required skillsets.

Please tell us about some of the latest digital health solutions at Siemens Healthineers.  
Innovation is in our DNA, and we are leading research and development by creating path-breaking solutions in artificial intelligence and new computing technologies, the internet of medical things and data connection, technologies in diagnostics and therapies, automatization of and robotic devices.

Siemens Healthineers has a comprehensive portfolio of Digital Health solutions. We focus on technologies that enable precision diagnostics via AI and help improve patient outcomes. Overall, we have more than 65 products enriched with artificial intelligence. We hold more than 650 patent families related to artificial intelligence and we train our algorithms with more than 1 billion curated images, reports, and clinical data. We collaborate with more than 4,500 clinical partners to enhance our research and development.  

Our dedicated teams worked on solutions to ensure quick response to COVID-19 related market needs by introducing new tests (SARS-CoV-2 antibody, PCR, antigen), enhancing our test menu and developing an AI-based algorithm that assisted healthcare providers in managing patients better.  

Additionally, our digital health solutions, services and consulting can support healthcare providers in protecting healthcare workers and increasing healthcare delivery capacity, simultaneously. For instance, our digital services enable medical staffs to operate systems regardless of their location and thus with a potentially lower risk of infection.  

With our portfolio of solutions that connects all the stakeholders, we enable cross-institutional data exchange for efficient collaboration and management of the patient’s condition. These solutions are deployable at an HCP-wide, regional, or countrywide landscape.

Over the next five years, how big will the market for digital health be in your opinion? What will be the key factors driving this growth?  
In the last few years, digital health market in India has grown by several folds.  

As per a report by Research and Markets, the rapid penetration of smartphones and the internet, coupled with supportive government policies, has propelled the growth of the digital healthcare market in India. In terms of revenue, the digital healthcare market in India was valued at ? 252.92 Bn in FY 2021. It is expected to reach ?882.79 Bn by FY 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 21.36% during the FY 2022 - FY 2027 period. The pandemic has promoted the adoption and deployment of digital healthcare devices and apps to establish a safe and connected healthcare ecosystem.

People have now become more aware of fitness and have been monitoring their health on the regular basis. There is also an increased understanding of boosting immunity and following a healthy lifestyle, all of which are interlinked to digitalizing healthcare.  

Globally, the market is seeing an upward jump and is poised to grow. Another report mentions that the global market for Digital Health estimated at US$152.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$456.9 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 18.8% over the analysis period. Apart from the pandemic, innovations in technology to reduce human errors improve patient prognosis and overall quality patient care, leading to digital health growth. The growing adoption of telemedicine, increasing aging population and rising occurrence of chronic diseases have fueled the demand for digital health technology globally.  

With more demands coming from the healthcare fraternity for safe and precision-oriented digital healthcare technologies in India, we see that the industry will continue to grow and boost innovation. Moreover, for the Government policies aligned towards providing Universal Health Coverage to people, digital technology will act as one of the strongest pillars in supporting the population of 138 crores.